Airlines braced for 'depressing' Government inquiry

Airline bosses are braced for another “depressing” whitewash over aviation
policy as the Government prepares to launch the 11th aviation inquiry since
the last full-length runway was opened in the South East in 1946, when
George VI was on the throne.

Despite strong support for a third Heathrow runway among business leaders and long-haul airlines, the Government is expected to focus on other, longer-term optionsPhoto: Getty Images

By Nathalie Thomas

9:34PM GMT 17 Mar 2012

The Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, is due to publish the Coalition’s aviation white paper within days of the Budget. The airline industry has been warned that the policy document is likely to amount to little more than another “call for evidence”.

Despite strong support for a third Heathrow runway among business leaders and long-haul airlines, the Government is expected to focus on other, longer-term options including a new airport in the Thames Estuary.

Successive post-Second World War governments have drawn up or commissioned 10 policy documents since the last full-length runway serving London opened at Heathrow in 1946.

Disagreements over location, cost, environmental concerns and effects on local residents has led to 66 years of inertia while European competitors have continued to build up their own national aviation hubs, industry sources said.

Research from BAA shows that since 1946 nine full-length runways have been built in Europe – to expand Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and Frankfurt airports.

Although a truncated runway capable of accommodating short-haul flights was opened at London City airport in the Eighties, all of the full-length runways in the South East that connect Britain to vital emerging markets pre-date the end of the war.

One senior aviation source on Saturday night called the research “depressing”. “We have basically avoided a decision for 50 years while the rest of Europe has been adding runways,” the source said.

In recent weeks, aviation bosses, including BAA chief executive Colin Matthews, Willie Walsh, head of BA-owner International Airlines Group, and Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson, have stepped up the campaign for a third runway at Heathrow.

The debate has taken on a fresh urgency amid warnings that the UK is already losing out on jobs and investment to international rivals.

Leading aviation analyst John Strickland, of JLS Consulting, said: “In the early Eighties we saw a severe political neglect to recognise and invest in rail infrastructure.

“It took almost two decades of woeful deterioration in service and a number of safety issues before the wake-up call came.

“We have a serious risk that we will experience déjà vu with aviation and look back in 20 years’ time saying 2012 was the year the UK let its pre-eminent global gateway status fall into terminal decline, and with it the chance to motor the UK economy into the job growth it so badly needs.”

In 2010, the Coalition reversed a decision by the previous Labour government to support Heathrow expansion.

Sources within the Conservative Party believe there is little chance of an about-turn on the Heathrow issue during the current Parliament, despite support from a number of Conservative MPs.